Due to the lack of good, modern DokuWiki templates, we wanted to convert an existing WordPress theme to a DokuWiki template. See the newsletter for details about the plan, join the discussion at the forum and see the three finalists (winner: Writr).

The final result is

• a new converted template: Writr
• and a tutorial on how to convert WordPress themes to DokuWiki templates

Sorry, I do not plan on signing up for a trello account but I thought I should share my experience. I do think there is demand for a nice CMS template and that there are not very many choices available. I use dokuwiki quite frequently and in most instances, I'm happy with the default template. But for my main site, I have used Prsnl10 since I switched from razorCMS to dokuwiki. It is nice and clean, and as far as I understand, is maintained. That is not to say that I would not have chosen something else had there been other choices available.

Ted via E-Mail

Just some quick feedback.

I'm not a developer but in unix administration. IMO, open source only really works when you have teams for co-development, load sharing and back up support when someone moves on. Linux, apache, other FOSS work because there are teams. Form a team who would be interested in maintaining two or three templates as you shouldn't be.

Move from a forum support to an email list with searchable archive. Email is where everyone works and it keeps it “in your face” so to speak. I posted something on the forum and then forgot to even check for replies for a week or two… but I check my email every hour and would answer any questions I could as they came in.

Don via E-Mail

Alternative strategy might be to get an add on made for Artisteer that would output DokuWiki templates.

It currently copes with Joomla, Wordpress and Moodle among others so it might not be so difficult.

For example my experimental Moodle site at www.smalle.co.uk is actually using the same template as on my blog at www.david.torrens.me.uk both made from the same Artisteer template.

David via E-Mail

I would prefer a solid responsive Template based on Bootstrap over the Wordpress Templates.

Wolfgang via Facebook

in fact, i not understand the idea.
is it porting wp the, or, make a wp theme work with dw?

Zaher via Facebook

Andi and Anika… you both ROCK!! Regarding DokuWiki templates, the default template is great primarily because users know it works! Many of the other templates I've worked with have quirks (issues) that must be discovered (usually after deployment).

I think there is definitely a need for more templates… and my preference would be for 3 or 4 of the best, most professional templates be vetted by the core development team and bundled with DokuWiki. THEN I think you'll see more usage of those different templates.

Something else I think the development team should be focused on is the fact that DokuWiki is the easiest wiki for a non-technical / non-programmer person to install and use. This makes DokuWiki the first choice for many people. Maintaining a focus on simplicity and ease of use should be central to the future development of DokuWiki.

DokuWiki is FANTASTIC! And I'm grateful to the development team for all of your work in creating it!!

Richard via LinkedIn

Great templates are essential. In a world where design is becoming more and more important.

My suggestion is to build one on a well known framework like Foundation for Zurb. Or even Twitter Bootstrap.

This will open up a window to the Frontend community.

Patrick via E-Mail

kurze Rückmeldung per Mail, da das schneller geht. Mir fehlte ein “leichtes / einfaches / reduziertes” Template in der Übersicht, so dass ich das Standard-Template für unser Büro angepasst habe (Screenshot am Ende dieser Mail, 1-9 sind Kürzel für die Leistungsphasen der Architekten, danach folgen Arbeitshilfen). Ist alles sehr stark auf unser Büro zugeschnitten. Prinzipiell fände ich aber ein “clean template”, das sich an Googles Prinzip (zentrale Suche, keine Ablenkung) und ein paar wenige graphische Links (Login, neue Seite anlegen, Index aller Seiten) klasse. Das letzte neue Design geht schon in die Richtung.

Ben via E-Mail

First of all, I want to thank you for this wonderful wiki. I use it for several years now.
I’ve never been disappointed with Dokuwiki and its adaptability !
Unfortunately, I’m retired, and the money is rare
But I’m really interested in learning how to create a template from scratch, which I never did so far.
As you can see, I never hesitate to twist the templates I use (mostly arctic) to adjust it to the need of the final user, so I have some idea about the structure of a template.
Maybe part of the fact that people « prefer » the basic template is due to the fact that adjusting a template is timeconsuming, and requires a few skills ?
When I started to uqe Dokuwiki, I saw a lot of sites using different templates, most of them being now unusable with the last versions of Dokuwiki.
So, yes, I would appreciate to see a tutorial about adapting a GPL-2 template for Dokuwiki.
Again, thank you for your excellent work !!!

Michel via E-Mail

thank you for this newsletter. I am so in favor and would happily contribute.
also: @apexskier' Starter Bootstrap template is a great model to work from. I've been very happy with it.
also, it would be great to have simple prefs in config for fonts/colors so users could easily personalize templates.
there are some neat ideas here: https://t.co/sGuEWcATgE

Nathan via Twitter

My issue with docuwiki templates has been that when I come to update my wiki instance, the template is not maintained/supported anymore, this and the fact that the standard theme is really good nowadays has made me not to use third party themes anymore. I really want to be sure that the theme I choose is supported the next 5 years if I ever use third party theme again.

For me it's much more important to be able to tweak some, like changing favicon, logo, colors etc without hacking and have this supported over dokuwiki updates.

Anders via Google+

YESSSS!!!! I love to read from you, and indeed you are hitting right on the spot.

I am using Dokuwiki both for internal documentation and for poublic-facing web, and this is where I would love to see some template offer.

Indeed, we have more and more need for responsive templates: CSS that would allow the template to scale and reorganize to fit varied screen sizes, from the smartphone to the tablet to the full-fledged computer screen.

What I have in mind is a simple responsive template.

I use 'simpliste' (http://cssr.ru/simpliste/ ) on some on-board systems, and I love it. I don't know if it meets GPL v2, so maybe it is not our best choice).

A similar template, if possible with a background picture, maybe similar to Dokuwiki's “wallpaper” template, would be of much interest.

I look forward to seeing where this leads

Benoit via E-Mail

I agree: I think with a set of top-notch templates, DokuWiki could become even more popular than it is already.

I'm using my own template for my open source frameworks and for an company-internal page. For some reason, I never added it to the DokuWiki template listing; but it's on GitHub, free for everybody. (I didn't add any license yet, but I could easily do that.)

Here are my 3 pages that are using it:

http://wiki.starling-framework.org
http://wiki.sparrow-framework.org
https://wiki.gamua.com

And here's the source:
https://github.com/Gamua/Dokuwiki-Template-Gamua

It's nothing fancy, but if you have any use for it, feel free to do whatever you want with it.

In any case: keep up the great work! I've been using DokuWiki for almost ten years now, and I've always loved it. There's nothing comparable out there!

Daniel via E-Mail

Thank you for all the work you folks have done to develop DokuWiki!

I've been using DkuWiki for a couple or three years, It was quick and easy to setup and no messy database to mess with.

I don't like the default template, It had me a bit lost and confused, between wikivoyage (wikivoyage.org) wikipedia and the really horrible MS docushare wiki we use at work, confusion was really not an option.

I have been using the dokubook template, it seemed similar enough without being the same as what I had been using. DocuBook seem to be mostly up todate

I have a couple of suggestions, first work on actively maintaining the up-to-date and popular templates, in particular the templates that have been updated as DokuWiki gets updated.

Second, develop a template framework so users can create their own or adjust the default to their liking; a package containing the necessary files and images. It would have to include enough documentation to understand the changes.

Again thanks for what you've been doing,

Crazy Ratz via E-Mail

Why are there only a few templates? Answer a) the existing one's cover most of the needs in the field. Answer b) it's too complex to develop an own template. I personally believe that the reality is in the middle: a Wiki should be clear and simple to use, not really colorful, changing pics or other gimmicks. That's the case for the existing one's. And a new template is not created by just putting some lines together … What I'd like to see is a responsive simple/clear one (like the default or the arctic one) which show the content on all different devices (tablet, mobile phone, iPhone, Laptop / Desktop PC, large TV screen …) - the content is essential but should be shown on all different devices - and such a template will bring real benefit to the community.

Andreas via Facebook

I'd love to suggest a template, but I don't have a Trello account and am not interested in signing up for another proprietary web service to leave a quick comment, so hopefully you won't mind an email!

I'm running 3-4 DokuWiki instances and I've settled on a bootstrap-based template lately. It's not perfect, but I'm a big fan of it because using bootstrap automatically makes it a lot friendly on a wide variety of devices, and it's a very clean and consistent look. And any frontend devs who know bootstrap would already be familiar.

https://www.dokuwiki.org/template:starterbootstrap

Hope that helps

Blaise via E-Mail

thanks for contacting me in respect to dokuwiki templates. I actually switched my template from the standard to Green Steel in a couple of wikis a couple of weeks ago and now I understand why people are hesitant to do so. On one side selecting a different template is easy, however, using it the way the user wants it is a nightmare. First of all the documentation is weak (to say it politley). It took me hours to figure out how I can enable a sidebar. Then I spent hours and hours to figure out how to get rid of the TOC, which is of no value for me but annoying. Ok I finally figuered it out more or less by chance based on a comment in the forum. I still have an issue with the 'pageid', which I wasn't able to eliminate yet. Obviously I will have to edit a css file, but which one and how?
You can see the related discussion in the forum: https://forum.dokuwiki.org/thread/12365

This I think are the real hurdles for using different themes in dokuwiki and why ony a few people look for different ones than the standard and live with what the get.

You ask to propose a GPL2 compatible wiki. Unfortunately I have no idea what this is or means. Unfortunately like me most of the users are no software developers nor do they understand how css pages work nor to write html and css pages.

Although I'd like more fancy choices but first at all I'd like to get a usable documentation of how to successfully use and configure new templates. I personally think that dokuwiki is a great tool and would have much more potential if it were easier to handle.

Dieter via E-Mail

I am using the Dokuwiki more than 5 years.

My wiki is public wiki and I was in need of mordern responsive template. and I made something like that by myself.

I hope you and other project leaders make better template.

I think we have another emergent problem. Many people uses mobile internet devices, In my site, almost 70% users do. but dokuwiki has no appropriate support for editing pages and uploading files in mobile device.

New template shoud be focused on supporting mobile users, and smartphone apps or editor scripts are in desperate need.

Dryoo via E-Mail